Game Update Notes: January 19, 2021 - Drop Rate Changes Devaluing Goods

[maddoctor.2738]

@Astralporing.1957 said:And they probably didn't like that some items ended up getting priced above the trade cap.

Maybe the posts about increasing the cap will stop now, as it's rather clear Anet doesn't want it.

[Sobx.1758]

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@"Astralporing.1957" said:And they probably didn't like that some items ended up getting priced above the trade cap.

Maybe the posts about increasing the cap will stop now, as it's rather clear Anet doesn't want it.

What was the initial drop rate? What is the drop rate now?Did the price change at all? Will it change? Will it change below the tp cap?How many people stopped consistently farming the infusion metas (or stopped playing the game altogether), which lowered the actual drop number despite it having the same drop chance since the introduction of those events? So how much of this change is possibly just a cushion for the possible loss of interest in said metas over the time instead of an actual "effort to tangibly lower the price"?If anet REALLY "clearly" didn't want for items to be valued above the price cap then why did they wait for years with this change?

What exactly are you trying to say is "clear" here? Because for now all I see are blind guesses and wishful thinking.

[Kanok.3027]

I can tell all you whiners talking about the devaluing of the Maguuma Lilies, it probably won't change much since the rate is still garbage tier. Been gathering since yesterday and only gotten one. Technically that is better than before since I would get every maybe 2 days or so. Your precious gold will stay the same.

[Midnight.7526]

Trading in the TP is like the stock market. There is always risk and that is something you accept when you participate.

[Asgaeroth.6427]

Items change in value constantly for all kinds of reasons. New content comes which increases availability and reduces demand on items that drop in that area. The money meta evolves over time. Stat sets grow and shrink in popularity. New recipes come out that use items in new ways. Hype drops off on older recipes. New sinks come out to shake up stagnant markets. Drop rates get adjusted for any number of reasons. When you list an item you are gambling that listing fee that you can sell the item before the price of the item changes. That is the intent of the system.

As far as buyer's remorse, that's a total dead end in general. There's nothing in existence that you can be certain will be worth the same for a long period of time. Even precious metals don't give you an absolute certainty of retaining value. Your coin collection is worth bupkis if a company trivializes robotic asteroid mining infrastructure. Don't cry over spilled milk.

[Tyncale.1629]

Yesterday I did the Chak Gerent and there was indeed someone who got the Chak Amulet. :o I already have it from way back, just after HoT was released, and since I am a total slacker otherwise I always felt a little special having the most expensive item in game(through pure luck, got it first CHak Gerent I did)).

Interesting to follow the TP on this item: there are still 23 people who have a buy order for 10 k for the egg sac right now. Used to be 28 a week ago, then dropped to 18 after the announcement, then went back to 23 yesterday. I am sure it will drop though, unless the drop yesterday was a total fluke. Have never before seen anyone announce a drop and I have done the Gerent quit a few times over the past few years.

So if you want to sell, best do it while there are still 23 buy orders for 10k. Unless you want to go through GW2 exchange. I agree though that prices for this item are silly, none have been sold through TP in years I think. That is not how it should be.

[Cyninja.2954]

@Kanok.3027 said:I can tell all you whiners talking about the devaluing of the Maguuma Lilies, it probably won't change much since the rate is still garbage tier. Been gathering since yesterday and only gotten one. Technically that is better than before since I would get every maybe 2 days or so. Your precious gold will stay the same.

I think you fail to understand how macro scale drop rate changes are meant to be taken.

A change of this scale does not mean YOU personally will see a lot of more drops. The drop rate changes needed for such subjective observation would have to be huge.

The drop rate change is intended to increase the overall supply of said material into the games economy via a multitude of players. Thus reducing the cost on the trading post (as has happened).

In fact, farming for this material makes even less sense now since you could easily instead farm gold and then BUY the material at its new lower cost off the trading post. You can of course farm the material your self, but would still be subject to drop rate rng for now a significantly lower value item. Sorry but your approach just perfectly shows off how players don't understand what such changes are meant to accomplish.

On the subject of rare infusions. Yes, there are a multitude of reasons which can be behind this decision unrelated to purely increasing supply into the game or creating a significant price change, one of which could be to send a warning to gray market traders out of game that every item is subject to change at the developers whim and thus going overboard with speculation can lead to bitter disappointment. Thus being completely unrelated to the supply entering the game. It could also be in order to force a select few items back into the trading post and reduce out of game trading, which would make the most sense if introduced gradually as to not create to big a market shift and give players time to approach the market differently.

Overall the changes seem to indicate that the developer WANT players to make use of the trading post, which is reflected in all adjustments made. While at the same time streamlining and reducing convoluted mechanics in acquisition of stats, which in turn makes sense when aiming to get potentially new players into the game with an expansion or steam release.

[Senteliks.2360]

@kharmin.7683 said:I think that with the impending expansion, and Steam release sometime soon-ish, Anet is anticipating a large influx of new (or newer?) players and they are manipulating the economy to be more favorable for the new players.

And frankly I welcome this, because it was needed. But I also understand the frustration, of those that relied heavily on it.

[Shadowmoon.7986]

Black market does not remove gold from economy, which causes inflation, which leads to more use of the black market, which leads to more inflation.Getting these items to reasonable levels will allow more gold sinks.

[lummuss.6850]

I believe that this (minuscule) change in the drop chance in three game infusions is simply a strategy to be able to attract the old or discouraging players back into the game. I personally have been playing for four years and after I heard about this new update, I was eager to enter the game and play the Tangled Depths goal. But I got discouraged right away and stopped playing the game (again).So I think that's it, it's a strategy to keep the game moving. It was a good strategy for the beginning of the year, but the drop chance still remains, let's say "impossible".

[Bast.7253]

As far as the infusions, or even some of the cosmetic items like the combat tonic in Grothmar that's still an insanely rare drop...

The vast majority of players will never see this item, even after the increased drop rate. Sure, it sucks if you happened to get it to drop and used it as a lottery ticket for the trading post.. but IMO they shouldn't have ever been that rare to begin with. A developer spent time making those assets only for 1% of the player population to ever actually see it. It seems pretty wasteful and it's not like it's some prestige item for doing anything more challenging than another player. It boils down solely to luck.

As far as the lilies I don't really have any comment on that. They're used in some insignia, scribing recipes, and guild hall upgrades I believe. They've probably always been more rare than they needed to be and I'm all for reducing the cost of scribe recipes as the entire guild hall system was designed around having an actual guild contribute to them (despite seemingly 80% of the time the guild upgrades and decorations fall onto the wallet of a select few that care enough to contribute.)

I'm just hoping they apply this reasoning to future content and do away with the heavy rng. They did good making this stone infusion be purchasable with currency, as they did with the one in Drizzlewood, but they have a bad habit of getting something right in one release and then reverting to an inferior method immediately after. Different teams I suppose.

[Tyncale.1629]

@"lummuss.6850" said:I believe that this (minuscule) change in the drop chance in three game infusions is simply a strategy to be able to attract the old or discouraging players back into the game. I personally have been playing for four years and after I heard about this new update, I was eager to enter the game and play the Tangled Depths goal. But I got discouraged right away and stopped playing the game (again).So I think that's it, it's a strategy to keep the game moving. It was a good strategy for the beginning of the year, but the drop chance still remains, let's say "impossible".

Do not give up, yesterday for the very first time there actually was a guy who got the Chak Amulet from the Chak Gerent. There still may be 21 players offering 10k for the Egg sac right now on the TP but that will change. I am considering selling mine now, exept that I do not need the gold. :( So I guess I keep the silly soapy bubbles Aura.